Frequently Asked Questions

Established by the Emeril Lagasse Foundation, Emeril’s Culinary Garden & Teaching Kitchen is a nationwide education initiative created to enrich the lives of elementary and middle school children through a fun, fresh perspective on food. Funded through a grant from the Foundation, the program fully integrates gardens and teaching kitchens in schools as interactive learning environments.

Chef Emeril Lagasse and his wife, Alden, have worked to impact youth through the universal language of food since establishing the Emeril Lagasse Foundation in 2002. This program reflects our mission to inspire, mentor and enable youth while broadening our reach nationally. By integrating gardening and cooking concepts in school curriculums, we offer an engaging experience that connects kids to the world of food and nurtures skills that benefit them not only in the kitchen but also throughout life.

The program seeks to serve 501c(3) K-8 public, private or charter schools throughout the U.S. with a preference for schools serving middle to low income students from rural, suburban and urban areas. Schools are evaluated on several attributes to determine their abilities to adopt and scale the program over time, including:

• Grades kindergarten – 8th with 500-700 students.
• Existing operational school garden with on-site space to construct a teaching kitchen.
• At least 12 months experience with experiential teaching.
• Dedicated development staff member or committee with proven fundraising capabilities.

The program provides children an opportunity to make meaningful connections between their core subjects and the world of food. The key pillars of the program are:

• Appreciation for the source of food.
• Understanding of nutrition & healthy eating.
• Development of life skills through food.
• Development of culinary skills.

Schools that are awarded a grant to implement Emeril’s Culinary Garden & Teaching Kitchen receive:

• A five-year grant to assist schools with implementing the program.
• A K-8 gardening and cooking curriculum that is aligned with national academic standards.
• Over 100 of Chef Emeril’s recipes that have been modified for the classroom.
• Garden & cooking education best practices & guidelines.
• Teacher trainings on how to use the tools provided with the program.

The unique curriculum was developed by a national task force of educators, culinary professionals and farm-to-school experts. School sites are provided with grade-level standards for gardening and cooking classes that are integrated across all core subjects and aligned with national academic standards.

Corporations or individuals interested in becoming donors can learn more at Emeril.org.

Founded in 2002 by Chef Emeril Lagasse and his wife Alden, Emeril Lagasse Foundation is a 501c(3) public charity headquartered in New Orleans. The Foundation’s mission is to create opportunities to inspire, mentor, and enable youth to reach their full potential through culinary, nutrition, and arts education with a focus on life skills development. Since its inception, Emeril Lagasse Foundation has granted more than $20 million to children’s charities to support culinary, nutrition, and arts programs. The Foundation accomplishes this through three programs. The Community Grants program provides programmatic and capital support to nonprofit organizations across the nation. The signature program, Emeril’s Culinary Garden & Teaching Kitchen, is a national education initiative created to enrich the lives of elementary and middle school children through a fun, fresh perspective on food. The Aarón Sánchez Impact Fund, the newest program, provides culinary arts education and human services programming for Latino youth. To learn more about the foundation and its beneficiaries, visit Emeril.org, or follow on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram.